has got to go. he's met the standard for impeachment. he's a clear and present danger to american citizens. their health and their safety. it's very clear right now regardless what i do personally, this guy's got to go. the american people know it. they need to tell their elected representatives because they are -- [ inaudible ]. >> we just lost democratic donor tom steyr and want to thank him for joining us. setting up a difficult test for those running in 2018. that wraps up things for me. rauch the rachel maddow show for her interview with attorney general eric holder. for now, ali velshi from new york. >> good afternoon. i'm ali velshi. this hour the president presents the medal of honor to an army medic served during vietnam and saved numerous lives. this as the white house faces critical questions about the

deaths of sour soldiers in niger, and the president also is facing scrutiny how he handled one death in particular. the death of la david johnson. johnson's widow myeshia spoke about his death and that phone call from the president. >> he couldn't remember my husband's name. the only way he remembered my husband's name, because he told me he had my husband's report in front of him. and that's when he actually said la david. i heard him stumbling on trying to remember my husband's name. and that was hurting me the most, because if my husband is out here fighting for our country and he risks his life for our country, why can't you remember his name? >> let's begin at the white house with nbc's hallie jackson. we heard from the president with singapore's prime minister a little while ago but he didn't take questions. what's the latest on this topic from the white house? >> reporter: not much, ali. at least at this moment in time.

there are a lot of questions you laid out top of the broadcast about what happened in this apparent ambush in niger. you heard, just played a little sound from myeshia johnson there who has questions about what happened to her husband. we expect later in the day we will hear in a rare appearance from the head of the joint chiefs of staff general dunford. in the meantime, president trump is avoiding questions here. he's had opportunity to answers questions in these pool spray settings. in the past, ali, you may have seen, somebody yelled, say the fed charon, tax cuts, bob corker, take your pick, the president might respond and say something. in this instance today, asked repeatedly about not just myeshia johnson but niger, the president has not essentially. an example of what i'm talking about. >> mr. president, can you tell us -- >> [ inaudible ]. >> thank you. >> thank you very much, everybody.

>> mr. president, any questions on the pambush? >> talked about niger, mr. president? >> reporter: a little tough to hear in the oval office. much more clearer in the rose garden where we just walked from not long ago with the president pressed about this situation in niger with questions remaining. you also talked about myeshia johnson speaking out for the first time about her husband's death. you heard her say president trump, she believes, stumbled over her husband's name. was maybe looking at a report, may have had it in front of him but felt hurt the president couldn't speak her husband's name. the president tweeted i spoke his name from beginning without hesitation. so this is where we are today at this point, ali. about one hour from potentially, po leshly, getting more answers

from general dunford about what happened in niger. you have the president locked in this discussion, i suppose wi, h a gold star widow. and an assessment this is a fight worth having. >> one can't ever figure out why one makes a decision to have these fights, but a tough one to be in with a gold star mother. more what's going on in the actual investigation what happened in niger, joined by hans nichols at the pentagon and garrett haake on capitol hill. hans, next hour as hallie said, general dunford will hold a briefing. heard about it earlier, at the pentagon. now we know the topic is going to be niger. what is it that we're expecting to hear from general dunford? >> reporter: just speaking to officials here. we're going to get a sense of the timeline of how that ambush occurred in niger. also we're going to get a broader articulation why u.s.

forces were in niger, and more broadly throughout west africa. these are some of the areas that the pentagon knows they need to clean up. the what and the why. and then on this issue of congress' notification, i expect we'll get a little more how they're pledging and trying to work closely with congress to make sure all the notifications are in place, they have the right authorization for u.s. troops there and also keep them in the loop and how they've been trying to keep them in the loop when incidents like this happen. so i think we'll get quite a bit of information here from general dunford. i should caution, to say sometimes when pentagon officials tell us we'll get all the facts, they're not all the facts or answers we want, but we're told at the very least we'll get a timeline. >> hans, a lot of stuff going on on capitol hill. the legislature, the lawmakers, seemed less concerned as to whether there was a scandal here and want to understand what the mission was in the first place. we've now heard this from john mccain.

heard it from lindsey graham, heard it from chuck schumer. they want to know what they don't know and didn't know. >> reporter: officially everyone in the pentagon is on the same page. a key meeting. coming out from the "new york times," this special forces group, may have gone up to the mali border. given chase. the international jerian account. the u.s., and the president is trying to figure whether the u.s. side is being truthful as they're conveying the facts because there is this second account. the official account is that they were ambushed potentially delayed after meeting with this tribal elder. >> garrett, there's a sense that some people on capitol hill feel that -- i can't get a sense of it. do they think they're being kept in the dark or just feel there's not enough communication between

the administration and congress about where our troops are in the world? >> reporter: very frustrated, ali. i talked to john mccain about this a couple times last week and each time made similar points he did not feel the administration was being transparent. didn't feel they were getting enough notification, and he and other members particularly on the senate side have gone back to this idea of, look, the u.s. congress is a coequal branch of government here and the way our sort of military action and wars have been spread around the world, they don't feel broadly they're consulted along the way. like they're being brought in to the discussion along the way, and now in this particular case, you have sort of two different sets of complaints that have sort of doubled up here on capitol hill. the first coming from mccain, which he, again, enumerated on the view this morning, this idea that congress is just not being told clearly from the administration what's going on. listen to john mccain this morning.

>> americans should know what's going on in niger. >> yes. >> they should know what caused the deaths of four, brave, yun americans. should know what kind of operations we're engaged in and one of the fights i'm having right now with the administration is the armed services committee is not getting enough information and they deserve it because we represent their families, too. >> you hear mccain saying they deserve this information because they represent their families. i think mccain is likely to get this information, because he and the armed services committee control the budget for the pentagon. so he's not someone that the department of defense really wants to tangle with on this, ali. >> that's why on friday we saw general mattis visiting with john mccain and lindsey graham trying to smooth the waters. guys, thanks. hans nichols and garrigarrett h

the pentagon. seeing more of the military operation, bringing in major general bob scales, former commandant of the u.s. army war college and good to see you. >> hi, ali. >> lindsey graham was clear talking to reporters friday. he is not in the business of wanting to micromanage the authorization of the use of military force. major, interject, may have to, when the president walks in. there's a fine line between congressional oversight and being well informed? >> that's right, but, this tragic, tragic event has really sparked an opportunity for debate, ali. i mean, our 6,000 americans in central africa there to preevt the expansion of boko haram, isis or al qaeda? or are these troops sticking their noses into what is essentially intertribal warfare that's been going on in central africa for hundreds of years?

so the debate, i think, is important. but the other point's also important. this was essentially, for lack of a better term, a squad action, where these four soldiers were tragically killed. so it's not congress' role to parse and go back second by second. >> they're not inclined to do that, right? >> no. but it is important they take a look at our policy in this region the world. >> an important distinction. there are issues about maybe there was an intelligence failure that led to the death of these soldiers but that's not fundamentally what john mccain and lindsey graham and chuck schumer are worrying about. they're worrying about, does congress really understand where u.s. troops are around the world and more importantly why? >> exactly right. you know, efricon, the command ta controls africa has been a back water for years. never in the news. it's always been behind in the news to centcom in the middle

east or ucom in europe. and now it's bubbled into front page news and it takes a while for congress or noor matter the mi tear military to assess or policy s. there a danger, the military establishment, not deliberately, becomes its own thing. forget. maybe thighs congressmen don't want to know 111 or whatever countries u.s. forces are in. using the word forget to let congress know, but is there an amount of detail sometimes doesn't get through over time? >> absolutely right. an old saying in the military, first reports are always wrong. second reports are usually wrong. one of the cardinal sins that you can make in the pentagon is to come out too early with too much information that eventually proves to be wrong. remember now, in this country, the size of two texasess there's only 100 operators in niger.

so it's very, very difficult to get the level of granularity congress is demanding dealing with a country that's 7,000 miles away and one of the most inhospitable regions of the world. takes time. eventually the answers will come. >> one of the reasons we don't know there are soldiers in so many countries in the world, generally speaking, american soldiers don't get outgunned and ambushed. >> an important point and some of the questions that need to be asked. why wasn't there a drone over these troops? you can buy a quad copter at walmart for $400. why is the american army outgunned in an ambush? why didn't they have the heavy weapons necessary to defend against a group like this? i think those are the questions that need to be asked eventually, ali. >> major general, always good to talk to you. thank you. former commandant of the u.s. army war college. taking a look at pictures at the white house. we'rable to see the medal of honor ceremony but the would us

is once again forced to explain comments made by the president. last week president trump claimed that he has called virtually all families of fallen soldiers who have died while he's been in office. listen. >> to the best of my knowledge i think i've called every family of somebody that's died, and it's the hardest call to make, but i have called -- i believe everybody, but certainly i'll use the word virtually everybody where during the last nine months something's happened to a soldier. i've called virtually everybody. >> okay. said it a few times. according to a new report that's just not true. roll call got its hands on a message to the pentagon, that statement was flat-out wrong. joined by a senior writer at roll call and broke the story. you wrote, not only had the president not contacted virtually all the families of military personnel killed this year, the white house did not even have an up-to-date list of those who had been killed. what did you learn? >> that's exactly it.

this is an exchange between the white house and the pentagon on tuesday, october 17th. in other words, hours after he had made that, the president had made that comment and the radio interview about contacting virtually all the families. and what the e-mails show is that the white house realized -- his top aides realized that was not -- at least an overstatement, shall we say? and that they needed to find out who had died. what their names were. they got the notices of death in each case all 65 cases. 21 killed in action. and 44 killed, most in military accidents on-duty military accidents. got the notices of death which provide the contact information and the e-mails indicate the reason they wanted them was to enable the president to reach the people he hadn't reached. and so what it looks like and in subsequent reporting by multiple news organizations is

abuttressing, the picture of a white house that has tried to ret retroactivity make true the statement that the president made on tuesday. >> john, as a baseball fan, i keep on coming back to the fact this is what you call unforced error. the president didn't need to go down this road to start with. >> absolutely. absolutely. now, this whole thing arose because the president chose for 12 days not to say anything publicly about the death of these four american soldiers. that prompted questions about why he had been silent and whether he had made any contact with the families, which led to additional questions. and it was the president's choice to claim that he had contacted virtually all the families, and it was the president's choice to personally attack anyone who questioned that. and so -- really, this is -- this is a crisis of his own making. >> a conversation we didn't freed to be having. john, thanks for your great

reporting. senior writer at "roll call." another story, keeping an eye on the white house still. a powerful lobbying firm under investigation by the u.s. justice department. tony pa deodesta group. his firm worked on a pro-russian public relations campaign in ukraine organized by former trump adviser and campaign chair paul manafort, whose tied with russia were under investigation since early in the year. former campaign manage for hillary clinton. john podesta is no longer affiliated with the firm and not a subject of are the investigation. records show the podesta group failed to show disclosure. sent subpoenas requesting for information from podesta. the group says the firm is cooperating fully with the special counsel's office and taken every step to provide documentation that confirms

timely compliance. in all engagements the podesta group conducts due diligence and consults with experts ensures disclosure at all times and we did so in this case. another layer in the russia investigation i follow closely. a former hedge fund manager says he knows why there was a meeting with donald trump jr. in june. one of the largest investors in russia says the meeting had everything to do with the u.s. law he pushed for called the magnitsky act, saying he campaigned for the law after his lawyer and accountant sergei magnitsky was tortured and killed in a prison. allows to freeze assets and deny visas for foreigners suspected of human rights violations. he met with donald trump jr. in hopes to repeal the law and free up russian assets in the united

states. where it gets interesting, over the weekend this tweet was posted saying russian president vladimir putin placed him on interpol's wanted list and says department of homeland security denied him a visa to travel to the united states. here to join me now from london, bill good to see you. tell me what's happened? >> well, so what happened was last week the canadian government passed their own magnitsky act. putin was furious. gave a speech thursday night saying how angry he was at the canadians and at me personally, and then all of a sudden i get added to the interpol wanted list, and then strangely, and totally unexpectedly, my u.s. vis sa gets canceled. putin effectively made it impossible to cross a border without being arrested and not able to travel to the united states of america. so he's gotten sort of a double win in his latest retaliation against me for the magnitsky act. >> russian officials including

this lawyer, and others including putin take you by name. feel you have meddled in russian affairs by getting the magnitsky act passed in the united states and similar acts passed in other countries. why are they so mad at you? >> so mad at me, because the magnitsky act has a very specific purpose, that the russians do these terrible crimes. kill people, torture people. imprison people in russia, take their property and keep that property in the west. the united states, in london, in canada. what i've been able to successfully do is create laws in these countries which will seize that property. so these people, the russians, putin, feel very exposed, because their property can get taken away from them in the west and they're furious. >> bill, your american born. why don't you have u.s. citizenship right now? >> i emigrated to the united kingdom 28 year ago and became a full english person even if i

accent betrays it. >> how does it normally work to get a visa? a. program for a european country that's called the es ta program. sort of visa light program. you basically fill in a web form, takes about ten minutes. pret send and a couple minutes later you get your esta. your visa. in my case, my esta basically got canceled as soon as my name showed up on the russian, on this abusive russian interpol list. so i can effectively not travel to america while this russian arrest warrant, this prudent arrest warrant is in place. >> tell me how this works. your book is called "red notice," it's a form of your name being on an alert list with interpol saying basically show up at any border, the old red notice you were on, you'd have been arrested? >> yes. the way it works, 190 members of

interpol all different countries, and if they issue a warrant for your arrest, then every other country will arrest you. that works great when all the countriesen honest and everybody is looking for real fugitives. what happens, countries like russia, iran, kazakhstan go after political enemies and i'm a political enemy of vladimir putin. he basically effectively is a criminal using a criminal mechanism, interpol, do go after me at his enemy. the problem with this is that it kind of muddies the water for real law enforcement. so if countries are skeptical, because people like putin are putting false criminals or false names on the list, then the whole criminal justice system of the world falls apart. putin caused trouble for me and more interpol and justice in general. >> you literally go to the airport, trooy to check in for a flight and found out you couldn't get on it? >> i did it online. i booked a flight.

tried to check in and they wouldn't let me check in and the said there was a problem with my visa. the problem with my visa we discovered was based on this interpol notice. >> why would the united states which has not honored those interpol notices as they relate to you in the past, why would they do so now? >> well, i don't know. i'm assuming it's a sort of technical thing. it's a bureaucratic thing where it automatically happens. that's what i hope. i guess i'll figure out quickly to see how quickly the problem is resolved. it is not resolved, maybe it's not -- maybe somebody's decided to go along with putin. i'm hoping that's not the case and -- >> you haven't had a formal conversation with the state department or somebody about this? >> i have not. i don't really know who to talk to there and even some of my colleagues and collaborators like senator cardin and mccain aren't even sure who in the government makes this decision. it's a black box inside the department of homeland security. >> just to get a sense of how big a deal is this. what is the magnitsky act

resulted in, in terms of money that's been frozen of these russian oligarchs? >> well, it's -- at the moment, what it's done is they put 44 peoples names on the magnitsky list. what is does -- supposed to freeze think money. if they don't have money in the united states it doesn't freeze 2. more than that, if your name is on the u.s. treasury list's no bank in the world will open an account and any bank you have an account in will close your account, whether it's the united states, peru or china, no bank wants to be in violation of u.s. sanctions. it's created a bunch of financial peorias. the 44 people on the magnitsky list can no loaninger work. that's why they hate it. shuts them down opt completely. >> and ranking member asked secretary of state rex tillerson to reverse the state

department's decision to suspend your visa if still suspended and would still like clarity why this happened. if you get more, let us know. we'll do the same. also reaching out to the state department for answers. bill browder joining me on this. in the white house you see vice president pence entered the room. expecting president trump to enter momentarily for the medal of honor ceremony where a vietnam veteran is going to be honored. he is a, a medic who apparently after being wounded continued to provide medical care and attention to others. in fact, he is said to have used his body as a human shield to shield others who had been involved in the attack. so that is what we are watching right now. we're going to be seeing this medal of honor recipient just moments from now. he seems to be in the room, because there are pictures being taken. this is army captain gary m. rose of huntsville, alabama.

he was born in upstate new york, by the way, in watertown, new york, by the canadian border. he's, he was 20-year veteran of the army, the second person to be awarded the medal of honor by president trump. this is -- the james mccloughan of south haven, michigan, was honored in july, you remember, for his actions to save wounded soldiers in a vietnam kill zone as well. so we are now listening for the president and this should be the president of the united states coming in for the medal of honor ceremony right now. >> announcer: ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states accompanied by medal of honor recipient captain gary m. rose, united states army retired. [ playing "hail to the chief" ] ♪

[ playing "hail to the chief" ] >> we recall the words of sake krit scripture. no one has greater love than this, than to lay down one's life for one's friends. let us pray. almighty god, source of our faith, our hope and our love, be present with us here now on this important occasion for our nation as we recognize the extraordinary selfless service of captain mike rose. his heroic acts of sacrifice reveal to us the true dignity of

each and every one of us of all our brothers and sisters. may these few moments here today and this example of captain rose's noble service trace for us, for the world, the way of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. may his heroic acts stir within us all the sacred desire to serve our nation, to serve with honor, and to serve with the selfless acts that lead to peace. amen. lm amen. . >> all: amen. >> please, thank you. thank you very much, chaplain hurley. vice president pence, secretary and members of congress.

members of the armed forces and distinguished guests, please join me in welcoming captain gary michael rose to the white house. [ applause ] [ applause ] >> for many years the story of michael heroism has gone untold, but today we gather to tell the world of his valor and proudly

present him with our nation's highest military honor. joining mike today is his wife margaret, their three children, sarah, claire and michael, and their two grandchildren, kaitlyn and christian. kaitlyn and christian, i want you to know that the medal that we will present today will forever enshrine your grandfather, and he is a good man. we just spoke to him for a long time, and you are great, great young people, but this will enshrine him into the history of our nation. we're also grateful to be joined by nine previous congressional medal of honor recipients. their courage, character and conviction is beyond measure. please stand. [ applause ]

>> we are honored to be in their presence. this afternoon i want to take a few moments to share with you the incredible story of mike's heroic deeds. raised in watertown, new york, mike's father was a metal worker and a world war ii veteran. he taught his son that we live in the greatest country in the world, and that we must love it, cherish it and always defend it. mike took that very much to heart. after his first year in college, he enlisted in the army and by the time he was 22, mike was a medic for the 5th special forces group in the vietnam war. on september 11, 1970, mike was

called on his second combat mission. he was the only medic for 136 men who embarked on one of the groups biggest missions of the war. "operation tail wind." it was to prevent the north vietnamese from funneling weapons along the ho chi minh trail to use against our american troops. helicopters dropped the unit into laos. before they even touched the ground, enemy fire struck three men. once they landed in the clearing, they rushed to the jungle for much-needed cover. soon another man was shot outside their defensive perimeter. mike immediately rushed to his injured comrade, firing at the enemy as he ran. in the middle of the clearing under the machine gun fire, mike treated the wounded soldier.

he shielded the man with his own body and carried him back to safety. but this was just the beginning of mike 's harrowing four-day mission. mike and his unit slashed slew the dense jungle, dodged bullets, dodged explosives, dodged everything that you can dodge, because they threw it all at them, and continuously returned fire as they moved deeper and deeper and deeper into enemy territory. throughout the engagement, mike rescued those in distress, without any thought for his own safety. i will tell you the people with him could not believe what they were witnessing. he crawled from one soldier to the next, offering words of encouragement as he tend to their wounds. on the second day, one of the allied soldiers were shot outside their company perimeter.

again, mike raced to the side of the soldier, exposing himself to constant fire, as bullets flew in every direction, mike fired at the enemy with one arm while dragging the injured soldier back to the perimeter with the other. soon after they returned to the unit, a rocket-propelled grenade exploded nearby and shot smoldering met into michael back and into his leg. he was seriously, seriously wounded. the shrapnel left a gaping hole in mike's foot. for the next 48 excruciating hours he used a branch as a crutch and went on rescuing the wounded. mike did thought stop to eat, to sleep or even care for his own serious injury as he saved the lives of his fellow soldiers on the second and final nice of the

mission the enemy surrounded the company. all night long mike dug trenches to protect from in blazing rockets and grenades. after four days of constant engagement with the enemy and successfully destroying an enemy base camp, mike's unit prepared to evacuate. when the helicopters arrived, mike fought back the enemy as his fellow soldiers boarded the aircraft. he boarded the last chopper, limping up to the craft while still warding off the enemy forces that were fast approaching. as mike puts it, if you don't believe in god, then you should have been with us that day. and i can tell you, it will make a believer out of you. because we should not ever have survived. mike, today we have a room full of people and a nation who thank god that you lived. [ applause ]

>> michael story doesn't end there. soon after the helicopter lifted off the ground, the chopper was hit by enemy fire. mike, this is serious stuff. this was not a good four days. the bullets tragically struck a young marine gunner in the throat. again, mike rushed to help, as he wrapped a cloth around the marine's neck, the engine of the helicopter failed. and the aircraft crashed less than a mile from where it had taken off. mike was thrown off the aircraft before it hit the ground, but he raced back to the crash site and pulled one man after another out of the smoking and smoldering represent as it spewed jet fuel from its ruptured tanks. finally, another helicopter rescued them, and by the time they reached the base, mike was covered in blood.

he refused to-of-treatment until all of his men had been teared for first. in every action during those four days mike valiantly fought for the life of his comrades, even if it meant the end of his own life. mike, you will -- i mean, i have to say, you really, your will to endure -- your love to your fellow soldier, your devotion to your country inspires us all. i have to tell you. that is something. nations are formed out of the strength and patriotism that lives in the hearts of our great heroes. mike never knew for certain whether or not that marine gunner who was shot on the helicopter survived, until earlier this year when mike learned that the marine had endured a painful and difficult recovery, but that he had made it and lived a long and very

full life before passing away in 2012. as mike said, that in itself made it all worth it. that marine was one of many men mike saved throughout those four days. mike treated an astounding 60 to 70 men. their company disrupted the enemy's continual resupply of weapons saving countless of additional american lives. today we are joined by many of mike's brothers in arms who fought alongside him in "operation tail wind." along with brave airmen and marines who provided critical support throughout the mission. as mike put it, if it wasn't for those air crews, all of us would still be in laos. among those here today are ten members of mike's unit. please stand up as i call your name. sergeant major morris adair.

sergeant don budro. first sergeant bernie brite. captain pete landon. sergeant jim lucas. lieutenant colonel gene mccarly. first sergeant denver minton. sergeant keith blanket. specialist 5 craig schmidt. and staff sergeant dave young. thank you very much. [ applause ] [ applause ]

>> to mike and all of the service member whose fought in the battle, you've earned the eternal gratitude of the entire american nation. you faced down the evils of communism. you defended our flag, and you showed the world the unblakable resolve of the american armed forces. thank you, and thank you very much. after serving in "operation tail wind" mike went on to become an officer in the army and served for over 20 years. now, mike and his wife margaret -- margaret. stand up, margaret. i met margaret. margaret's lovely. [ applause ] they reside in a fantastic place where i just left. huntsville, alabama. where he lives by a core conviction. you serve your country by fixing your block, or fixing your

neighborhood. mike volunteers with the american legion, the knights of columbus and many other organizations. he volunteers at a local soup kitchen, fixes broken appliances for elderly, and donates his hair for those suffering from cancer, makes lunches for children in need and organizes community gatherings to bring people closer together. just something we need all over the world and snercertainly in country. he's a loyal friend to his fellow service members. many of whom are an addition here today and every wednesday kaitlyn and christian come over for homework night with grandpa and grandma. i think kaitlyn and christian will agree, and i just met them. you have to stand up. come on, christian. come on. kaitlyn? [ applause ]

but i think that kaitlyn and christian will agree, this field trip is their best homework assignment yet. right? what do you think, christian? yes? he said, yes. i'm told recently christian asked his grandfather what exactly is the congressional medal of honor? that is a wonderful question, christian. it's the award given to america's bravest heroes who earn our freedom with their sacrifice. those who receive the medal of honor went above and beyond the call of duty to protect their fellow service members and defend our nation. kaitlyn and christian, you are about to witness your grandpa receive our nation's highest military honor. and america's about to witness captain gary michael rose recognized as the true american hero that he is. a patriot who never gives up, never gives in and always stands

strong for god, for family and for country. mike, we honor you. we thank you. we salute you. and with hearts full of admiration and pride, we present you with the congressional medal of honor, and now i would like the military aide to come forward and read the citation. thank you very much. thank you. [ applause ] >> the president of the united states of america authorized by act of congress march 3, 1863 has awarded in the name of congress the medal of honor to sergeant gary m. rose, united states army, for conspicuous gallantry at the rick of his

li livy life above and beyond duty, special operations augmentation, command and control central, fitness special forces group airborne, first special forces republican ith of vietnam between 11 and 14 september 1970, sergeant rose's company was continuously engaged by a well-armed hostile force deep in enemy territory. enemy b-40 rockets and mortaring rained down while the area was sprayed with small arms and machine gun fire wounding many and forcing everyone to seek cover. sergeant rose braving the hail of bullets sprinted 50 meters to a wound the soldier's side then used his own body to protect the casualty from further injury while treating his wounds. after stabilizing the casualty, sergeant rose carried him through the built-ridden zone to

cover. sergeant rose continuously exposed himself to bullets. he was knocked from his feet and injured his hand leg and foot. he continued to render aid to other soldiers. do you evering the attempted medevac he again exposed himself to enemy fire as he attempted to hoist wounded up to the helicopter unable to land due to unsuitable ter reiraiterrain. the helicopter crashed a few miles away due to the heavy attempts of extraction. he continued to expose him to enemy fire to treat the wounded estimated to be half of the company theenemy launched a ful

attack and returned to the perimeter carrying friendly casualties and wounding wounded personnel to more secure positions until they could be evacuated then returned until the helicopter arrived. as the final helicopter arrived the company was began to be overcome. the gunner was shot in the neck. he saved the marine's life. the helicopter carrying sergeant rose crashed several hundred meters from the extraction point further injures sergeant rose and the others onboard. he continued to carry wounded and unconscious personnel out of the burning wreckage and continued to provide aid until yore helicopter arrived. his selflesses in above and beyond the call of duty were

critical to saving numerous lives over that four-day time period. his actions are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect greatness upon himself and the united states army. [ applause ]

[ applause ] >> eternal god, we ask for your blessings. the blessings of this day, to remain with us as we go forward. may we go forth in peace empowered to serve with greater courage and strengthened to overcome the challenges of our service of our call. given to serve all in need, and we ask all this in your holy name. amen. >> all: amen.

[ applause ] all right. that was president trump the medal of honor to sergeant gary michael rose, army medic during vietnam who used his body, a great hero, to defend against others wounded and being rescued more than 100 people. president trump is in damage mode as the kuts continues its push to pivot to tax reform after reports congress wa considering a cap on 401(k) contributions, the president tweeted, there will be no change to your 401(k). always been a great and popular middle class tax break that works and it stays. of course, no way of knowing whether that statement is true until we see a final framework for the gop plan. it is likely, however, that the

final plan will hinge on major tax cuts for businesses and wealthy americans, ostensibly with the goal of stimulating economic growth. i happen to be a little skeptical of that outcome, but to balance things out i'm joined by somebody who's not. art lapper, chairman of lapper associates, former economic adviser to pret reagan. when talked to kevin hassett of the council of economic advisers i said i have you coming up. good to see you. >> oh, my goodness nessgoodnes. good to so you, ali. >> the administration is using the argument, the cut to taxes, particularly corporate taxes, will result in an increasing household income of between $4,000 and $9 thoushg,000 per h. the study was put out there and we're having trouble understanding what the connection is. how it is reducing those business taxes does increase incomes for average americans. talk to me about this. >> sure. what they suggest in the study by kevin hassett is that if you

cut the corporate frax tax from to 20% preferably for me, 15%. it would be sump demand for labor would be higher. two things would get jobs, and people who currently have jobs would get higher paying jobs, directly because of an increase in demand for labor that can produce more output and higher gdp. it's pretty straightforward. why would the demand for labor increase by cutting the taxes? >> well, because businesses would find it more attractive to produce more output because they make higher returns on the output they produce themselves. >> so the concept of businesses needing incentive to increase output would have some relationship to demand. at the time, capital is very cheap and largely available. companies are very profitable and yet not choosing to expand and not choosing to grow at a great rate. so tell me why you think the tax is the pivotal part.

if they reduce the tax company's pay, they'll suddenly feel like i should build another factory. i should employ more people. >> that surely will help that. first thing, it's not everything, obviously. the corporate tax, however, is something and it's something very, very important. and what people do and what businesses do, they look to the future and see what type of profits they can make by expanding their businesses right now. as it stands right now with the profits taxed the way it is, the investments don't look all that attractive. what we do is cut that tax rate from 35% to 20% or 15% and that will increase the attractiveness of those investments and they will expand their capital expenses -- capital businesses, et cetera and also you'll have to remember the president also suggested 100% expensing of capital purchases which would also increase the demand for capital and further construction and output and employment as well. >> which again all seems -- i get the benefit to business. i'm not anti-business. >> no, you're not. >> i'm just trying to figure out how we get to the point because

there's a study in the united kingdom that indicates it didn't raise wages. cutting corporate taxes doesn't increase wages. we've also seen a study from the reagan era that shows didn't result in increased wages. if you are an average american, your wages haven't increased adjusted for inflation in a very, very long time. >> what they're talking about there, those studies, they're looking at median wages. when you add 21 million new jobs as we did during reagan, all of those jobs come at the lower end. so the meedian income doesn't rise but the income of those who were employed rises dramatically and the new people coming in start at lower wages and build themselves up. so the meedian wage is not what you want to look at. you want to look at the mean wages and those did increase quite dramatically. >> we'll have to look at that when we have more time. the medal of honor ceremony took longer than expected. >> you cover a lot of great

stuff. i'm impressed by the level of acumen that you have and all these different topics you've got. >> oh, the flattery. >> it's true. >> we'll see you in a bit. thanks very much. my next guest has also been waiting patiently. he was on a call yesterday with the president about his tax plan. walk over with me to let me show you what his area of interest is. the topic on my next guest's mind is this. the prison system. what's wrong with the u.s. prison system. the number of men and women who end up in them has been a hot button issue. doug collins has introduced the prison reform and redemptsion act to determine ways to lower the rate of repeat offenders. i want to just perfect i gbefor him. let's take a look at the congressman standing by. bring him in. thank you, congressman, for waiting. let me show our viewers what's going on. first off, the united states leads the world in incarceration rates when compared to every other country in the world. this is the rate of incarceration per 100,000 citizens.

we're ahead of russia, rwanda, brazil, australia and the other developed countries. about 2.3 million americans are locked up. 8% in federal prisons, 28% in local jails. about 60% are in state prisons. about 2% are youths. one out of five of all of our prisoners are in jail because of drugs which greatly dominates on the federal level. also another component to the prison issue and that is the rise of private prisons to offset the overcrowding and government-run prisons. ibis world released a report showing the revenue for all these private facilities and services amounted to $5 billion with an annual growth rate of 1.5%. this is private prisons. one example of the repercussions of privatizing these facilities are corruption scandals. in 2007, this is one example. in 2007, children being tossed into a for-profit youth center in pennsylvania in a kickback scheme dubbed kids for cash. when looking at the overall

recidivism rate, the rate of return to crime in prison found that 68% of people released from prison were rearrested within three years. 77% were rearrested within five years. joining me now, a man who has been waiting patiently. republican congressman doug collins, a member of the house rules and judiciary committees. congressman, you aren't trying to solve the whole problem but trying to solve this problem of recidivism. too many go to jail and too many come out with what looks like a boomerang back to jail. >> that's right, ali. you've hit on the problem. one of the things, another statistic i want to throw out is 95% of the people we put into jails or prison are going to come home eventually. what our problem is, what my redemption act tries to look at is let's start when they go into the bureau of prisons and begin a plan, a process in which they can buy into to say, what are the skills lacking, the issues i

have. it may be addiction, mental health, other issues that lack the skills so when they're in the communities they can be profitable folks. aside from all the statistics because it's easy to get lost here. these are people. this is a money and moral issue. something we can look at from, instead of spending a lot of money to keep someone locked up, let's put the emphasis on the moral aspect they are coming home. sons and daughters that have places in our communities and are valued citizens. we're trying to say let's do a plan that lets them buy into something that when they get out or get closer to the time of release they can go to a halfway hour, attain skills so they can come back home with more than just a bus ticket and no hope. woor looking to say, let's find a place they can find a job and a hope and have a community that welcomes them. this is everybody's job, not just the congress'. >> that seems to be a good sell. it should be able to appeal to people on both sides of the aisle. are you getting -- there's a bill before the senate as well. are you getting bipartisan

pick-up on this conversation? >> yes. hakim jeffreys is a good friend of mine. we're very different politically on a lot of issues. he and a lot of others on both sides of the aisle, john conyer, sheila jackson lee, our side of the house. a lot of folks on this bipartisan issue because we understand what this does to communities and families. when you put people first and look at it from a monetary standpoint, it's a conservative issue. some of the most conservative states have enacted criminal reforms that have emptied their prisons and saved money and not seeing their recidivism work. >> fiscal conservative, spending too much money on too many people in prison is not a good one. can you come back and we can have more of this conversation? >> ides love to come back. >> congressman doug collins from georgia, thank you for joining us. former fox news host bill o'reilly is pushing back against a report that o'reilly paid $32 million in a settlement with lis

before 20th century fox renewed his contract. they've not been able to verify the report. >> i've been in the broadcast business, journalism business 43 years. i've never had one complaint filed against me by a co-worker in any human resources department in 43 years. that encompasses 12 different companies. so all of a sudden, all this stuff happens and the pain it brings to my children is indescri indescribable. indescribable. >> 21st century fox released a statement saying informed by mr. o'reilly that he had settled the matter personally on financial

terms that he and ms. wiehl had agreed. joining me is special correspondent for "vanity fair." how do companies agree to these kinds of things? i get it that he's outside, but i have a feeling if you went in and said i have this huge multimillion-dollar settlement. can't really tell you too much about it but -- >> clearly this is a black eye on fox news and parent company 21st century fox. they re-signed bill o'reilly knowing he par took in multiple settlements. this is a serious issue for rupert murdoch as they seek to complete the takeover of the british/european cable and satellite broadcasting service sky. they loorking at whether they, the parent company, is a fit and proper owner of a media asset. this reckless behavior on the part of signing o'reilly after these settlements went through is obviously ammunition for critics who say that deal should not be approved. >> they take this very seriously in europe.

a tighter eye to something like that happening. >> that's why this is a big issue. >> we're out of time. gabe sherman. that closes out this busy hour for me. i'll see you back here at 11:00 a.m. and at 3:00 p.m. "deadline:white house" starts right now. hi, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york. we're going to begin with breaking news at this hour. amiss d an eight-day firestorm the way the president handled calls to military families, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, the highest ranking military official in this country, general joseph dunford is about to take questions at the pentagon about what went wrong in that ambush that left four american soldiers dead in niger and what u.s. troops are doing there. pentagon correspondent hans nichols is in the pentagon briefing room waiting for that to begin. >> we expect to get some sort of timeline from general